The Earth Around Us: Maintaining A Livable PlanetRoutledge, 2018 M02 19 - 480 pages Soil contamination . . . public lands . . . surface and groundwater pollution . . . coastal erosion . . . global warming. Have we reached the limits of this planet's ability to provide for us? If so, what can we do about it?These vital questions are addressed in The Earth Around Us, a unique collection of thirty-one essays by a diverse array of today's foremost scientist-writers. Sharing an ability to communicate science in a clear and engaging fashion, the contributors explore Earth's history and processes--especially in relation to today's environmental issues--and show how we, as members of a global community, can help maintain a livable planet. The narratives in this collection are organized into seven parts that describe: Earth's time and history and the place of people on it Views of nature and the ethics behind our conduct on Earth Resources for the twenty-first century, such as public lands, healthy forests and soils, clean ground and surface waters, and fluctuating coastlines Ill-informed local manipulations of landscapes across the United States Innovative solutions to environmental problems that arise from knowledge of the interactions between living things and the Earth's air, water, and soil Natural and human-induced global scale perturbations to the earth system Our responsibility to people and all other organisms that live on Earth. Never before has such a widely experienced group of prominent earth scientists been brought together to help readers understand how earth's environment works. Driven by the belief that earth science is, and should be, an integral part of everyday life, The Earth Around Us empowers all of us to play a more educated and active part in the search for a sustainable future for our planet and its inhabitants. |
From inside the book
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Page 6
... present and future periods . As we consider these scenarios , we should ask : How can we bring nonintuitive events into people's individual and collective consciousness ? Meteorite Impacts Most humans probably see a few " shooting stars ...
... present and future periods . As we consider these scenarios , we should ask : How can we bring nonintuitive events into people's individual and collective consciousness ? Meteorite Impacts Most humans probably see a few " shooting stars ...
Page 8
... present , began at a time when the climate in Egypt became extremely arid and the discharge on the Nile was sufficiently reduced that simple irrigation could be developed to allow year - round cultiva- tion of crops . For 5,000 years ...
... present , began at a time when the climate in Egypt became extremely arid and the discharge on the Nile was sufficiently reduced that simple irrigation could be developed to allow year - round cultiva- tion of crops . For 5,000 years ...
Page 9
... present time , the largest hydroelectric project in history is the construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China . At the time of the writing of this book , a diversion channel has already been constructed to route ...
... present time , the largest hydroelectric project in history is the construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China . At the time of the writing of this book , a diversion channel has already been constructed to route ...
Page 14
... present - day Tokyo , which is 60 miles from Fuji , with an inch of ash . On July 15 , 1888 , with almost no warning , Bandai - san blasted out its northern flank in a rapid series of vio- lent explosions , sending steam and rock debris ...
... present - day Tokyo , which is 60 miles from Fuji , with an inch of ash . On July 15 , 1888 , with almost no warning , Bandai - san blasted out its northern flank in a rapid series of vio- lent explosions , sending steam and rock debris ...
Page 17
... present problems around the Earth and those in the foreseeable future . With this way of considering the world , geological knowledge can elucidate the problems of our physical environment that impact people and other living things ...
... present problems around the Earth and those in the foreseeable future . With this way of considering the world , geological knowledge can elucidate the problems of our physical environment that impact people and other living things ...
Contents
1 | |
Part II SCIENTIFIC JUDGMENTS AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS | 57 |
Part III RESOURCES RECONFIGURED | 121 |
Part IV LOCAL MANIPULATIONS | 197 |
Part V INVENTIVE SOLUTIONS | 255 |
Part VI WHOLE EARTH PERTURBATIONS | 307 |
Part VII GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES | 357 |
Source Notes | 410 |
Index | 443 |
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American aquifer Arctic atmosphere beach biological bluff Cape Hatteras Lighthouse carbon dioxide century City climate change coastal contaminated County desert dredged Earth ecosystems Edwards Aquifer effects energy Engineers environment environmental erosion example federal feet flood flow forests fossil future geologists geothermal global greenhouse groundwater habitat harbor Hawaii human Ibid ice age impact Island issues land landfill landscape layer living Lotus Bay material ment million mineral models National native Hawaiians North nuclear waste ocean Olmsted County Owens Lake ozone percent plants pollution population predictions problem processes protect radiation record region repository reservoir result River rock sand scale scientific scientists sediment shoreline soil species storm streams studies surface sustainable temperature tion U.S. Army U.S. Army Corps U.S. Geological Survey understand University USGS Valley volcanic water quality water supply watershed wetland York Yucca Mountain